Ecuador 13 – Galapagos Days 1 & 2
Santa Cruz Island
Hola chicos! Well, I’m off the boat and have tons of photos, etc. to get organized from the Galapagos so please bear with me as I try to get updated this week. I spent the past seven nights on the lovely catamaran Nemo II with eleven other passengers: 2 Belgian, 6 English, 1 Dutch, 1 American, 1 Chinese and of course the 7 Ecuadorian crew members. I wasn’t really sure how I was going to enjoy living on a boat for a week but as it turns out…I had a great time and really enjoyed the small ship atmosphere.
Santa Cruz Island, the objects in the sand are remains of a pier from the U.S Military Base from WWII
Sally Lightfoot Crabs
I only got seasick once (when we departed on choppy seas just after eating dinner) so thought that was pretty good…oh, and no sunburn for me despite the fact that we were on the equator…this is excellent news for my WPP (Wrinkle Prevention Program).
My home for 7 nights…Nemo II
Salt Water Lagoon on Santa Cruz…iguana in the forefront and flamingos on the right
Brown Pelican
So, the Galapagos. Maybe a little refresher on the significance of the Galapapagos Islands would be useful here…
The Galapapagos Islands were first discovered by a European in 1535 though evidence found on the islands suggests that people may have inhabited the islands at some point prior to the arrival of the Europeans. Initially the islands were used by pirates and other seafaring characters as an isolated point of rest between South American and Central America. Whalers and fur-seal hunters later arrived and ultimately decimated the islands’ population of giant tortoises as the tortoises could survive on board the ships without food or water for long periods of time and thus provided a source of fresh protein for the sailors.
Galapagos Penguins
Cactus growing out of a lava rock
Ecuador annexed the islands in 1832 and as a condition of successful annexation it needed to establish a colony on the islands. Due to the isolation and barren topography of the Galapagos it was a hard sell to get Ecuadorians to want to move there. In the end, the solution was to establish a prison colony…one without an actual prison as the isolation of the islands was considered secure enough and the prisoners began to settle in the Galapagos permanently. Even now many of the residents of the islands are descendents of the original prisoners sent in the early 19th century. Currently only 1.2% of the islands land mass is inhabited and the rest is national park of Ecuador.
View of Pinnacle Rock (and Nemo II) from top of Bartolome
View of sunken crater from top of Bartolome
Ultimately the Galapapagos Islands became most famous for being the basis of Charles Darwins’ ongoingly-controversial-in-religious-circles book on evolution, The Origin of the Species. Darwin arrived on the HMS Beagle in 1835 where he first noticed the variations in species of finches and tortoises between the different islands. This led to his developed theories on evolution including those of natural selection. After Darwin the islands served as a military base for the U.S. during WWII and briefly as a penal colony for Ecuador in the mid-twentieth century. In the end, though, Ecuador chose to establish the Galapapagos Islands as a national park and tourist/conservation/research location in 1959.
Under the sea…
You can barely see them but there are some long, ribbon-like jelly fish creatures all over. I didn’t think the picture would take but amazingly you can kind of see them.
The first day we became acquainted with our fellow passengers and went on a brief afternoon hike on the island of Santa Cruz where we saw Sally Lightfoot Crabs, flamingos and penguins in a salt water lagoon as well as the amazingly desolate volcanic landscapes which are included in the pictures above (I seem to have acquired a spot on my camera lens so many of these pictures have a little round flaw in one corner…sorry about that…I suspect my camera may not have escaped the horse-back riding adventure unscathed).
Sea lions galore on the Galapagos…
On Day 2 we headed to the uninhabited islande of Bartoleme where we climbed to the highest point and I was able to get these great shots from above of the sunken crater formations and beautiful beaches. During this walk we saw lots of the endemic (found only in the Galapagos) species of Galapagos penguins, lava lizards, marine iguanas and lightfoot crabs. Some of the pictures will occur on later posts, however, as I was able to get closer to the animals on different days of the trip for better shots.
Nemo II around 5pm
In the afternoon of Day 2 we went snorkeling off the side of the boat and since I brought an underwater casing for my camera I was able to get some shots underwater. The first snorkeling site was pretty murky but I’ve included a couple of the photos here. I got some better underwater shots later in the week so watch for those coming soon… After the snorkel we headed out for an afternoon walk on “Sombrero Chino” where we encountered the first of many significant sea lion colonies as well as various birds and, of course, more amazing scenery. The pictures will do better justice to this place than anything I have to say so I’ll keep it short for today. Lots more to come from the Galapagos this week so keep checking the Extravaganza blog for more. Type to you soon…
Sunset in the Galapagos
Tags: 8 - Ecuador, Galapagos Islands, penguins, Santa Cruz
Stacey
December 3rd, 2007 at 10:52 pm
WOW!!! Awesome is about the only word I can use to describe this post. Probably the best pictures yet, and I am at the height of my envy of your world travels…can’t wait for more posts!
December 4th, 2007 at 10:42 am
Ditto, Andrea for mom…WOW!!!! what an adventure. The pictures are wonderful.
December 5th, 2007 at 11:42 am
AMAZING!! I am so glad you were able to take that trip – I can’t wait to read about the rest of it 🙂
December 5th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Okay, now I am officially jealous, as I am sitting bored as hell in my office. This looks like the life, sister. Keep having fun, since I can’t!